Opinion Contributor

Spending, Ron Swanson-style

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Hard-working taxpayers already have given $127 billion to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, yet the government mortgage giants are asking for more bailout money. The president promised that the health care bill would cost less than $900 billion, yet a nonpartisan analysis recently revealed that the health care legislation will cost $115 billion more than expected.

This revelation comes on the heels of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services report, highlighting how national health care costs will increase by $311 billion over the next 10 years because of the health care legislation.

Coming up with new approaches to involve the American people directly in the political process is half the battle. To tackle this surging spending spree and put an end to cyclical broken promises, lawmakers must also offer substantive plans to scale back.

One such area lawmakers should consider is with the Department of Education and No Child Left Behind. That program has created incentives for states to weaken their standards, has provided too few students with school choice opportunities and has encouraged teachers to “teach to the test.”

The best chance for giving each child the opportunity to live up to his or her greatest potential will come not from a Washington bureaucrat but from teachers, local school boards and parental involvement. Instead of spending $64 billion on bureaucratic red tape at the Department of Education, we could give that money directly to local school boards.

Next, we can look at implementing a 5 percent, across-the-board spending cut for nondefense, discretionary spending. Implementing a balanced-budget amendment is another common-sense measure we could take to force Congress to live within its means and reduce the deficit.

Today, 49 out of 50 states have a balanced-budget requirement. It is high time for the federal government to have one, too.

The bottom line is we must get serious about Washington’s spending spree on a borrowed credit card before it is too late.

This means delivering more than just rhetoric and finally proposing solutions — even if they are outside the box — to get the conversation rolling, Ron Swanson-style.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) serves on the House Committee on Education and Labor.

Readers' Comments (8)

Congressman, you are correct in that we need both outside the box thinking and cuts in discretionary spending. However, the elephant in the room not acknowledged is the vast amount of what is considered nondiscretionary spending. Huge entitlements that were insufficiently funded by their recipients for years are a large part of what is corroding our national economy and reducing this is critical to any long term solution.

You are right about what you say, but it doesnt get to the core of the problem. Hard, tough choices lie ahead and your constituents need you and the rest of your party to step up and make some significant cuts, not just small ones that put a bandaid on the issue for political purposes and are little more than lip service. Unfortunately, this has been the republican tactic for a generation and my son (a high school student in your district) is now in massive debt to foreign governments years before he hits the work force as a result of this. This is NOT acceptable!

I'm in Beaufort county and one of your voters who supports your efforts. Your job is yours to lose. You'll get backing here but when going after federal spending and unfunded mandates you need to chop with an axe and not snip at the edges with scissors.

A five percent cut is in discretionary spending is only going to result in savings of around 21 billion. Not a lot of money in a three trillion budget.

The federal government will need to start raising revenue. That means an end to tax cutting. When are we going to hear from a politician that knows we must start filling the federal coffers to save this country from financial ruin.

The majority of the American people are not going to surrender their social safety net (Medicare/Social Security). You might be able to reduce future benefits (slow growth, raise eligibilty age, etc) but they are not going away. After all, Social Security and Medicare is the only tax that all Americans pay equally (up to the top exemption). Its one of the few common denominators in modern American life.

Wow, I can't believe Joe Wilson just used Ron Swanson as an example of responsible government. He obviously does not watch Parks and Recreation very often, even if he does, this one flew clear over his head.

Well Rep. Wilson, if you're really serious about reining in "Washington's spending spree", you could immediately give up all taxpayer subsidies of your health insurance premiums and health care costs, give up your congressional pension and start to work for free.

But you're living proof that government-at least as you do it-doesn't work for the vast majority of citizens, especially the middle class, working class and working poor, all groups that suffer whenever the GOP gets its way.

I laughed hard enough when I saw that a Republican congressman was using a television character, a character whose a PARODY of inefficient government workers who hate their job, to promote GOP values. But THIS guy? The guy who screamed "YOU LIE" to the president? The GOP is a bigger joke than I thought. They have gone from being jokes to citing jokes as reasons to go against Obama.